The Ramblings of a Personal Coach

Let me tell you a story about a little girl who made a request for Christmas, she asked for a typewriter.  Her parents were surprised and they loved her very much so they went out into town on a cold December weekend and eventually found a nice typewriter.  They carried it home, not an easy job because it was very heavy and wrapped it in pretty Christmas paper.  Christmas morning came and the excited little girl charged down the stairs and admired her presents with glee.  The huge box caught her attention particularly.... Her typewriter!!!!! 

Eventually her mum and dad came down and they were all able to rip open their presents, the little girl saved the big box for last, she knew what it was and was building up to opening it.  Finally, the time came, she took off the paper and inside was a box, and inside the box, was a typewriter.  The little girl's heart sank, her shoulders drooped and she murmured a polite thank you.  She duly removed it from the box, fed through a piece of paper and clunked down on the heavy keys one by one, later the typewriter went into her wardrobe where it stayed until it was eventually (and regrettably) lost in a housemove. 

You see, the thing is, the little girl actually wanted a computer like the ones they had at school, that was all sleek and electronic, the keys worked with a light touch and the paper came out of a printer.  The problem was she didn't really know that a computer wasn't a typewriter and a typewriter wasn't a computer. 

So, next time somebody asks you what it is that you want before you answer make sure of the following;

• You know exactly what it is that you want.  If you don't know for sure then how can your requests be followed through.
• You communicate your needs and wants precisely and clearly.